Counting the costs: Home care vs residential care

Posted on 28/01/2015

The cost of future care is one of our biggest concerns about
getting older: Do we have to sell our house to move into a care home? Will we
have nothing left to pass onto our children? How much should we have to spend
before hitting the new care cap?

It can be a bit overwhelming, so it pays to be organised and
start planning early. One decision that you will need to make is whether you
would prefer to have at-home care or residential
care. There is quite a difference in cost between the options; residential
care can cost a lot more, though it is worth bearing in mind that the cost includes
round-the-clock care, as well as living costs (for food and lodging, which you
would have to pay if you remained at home and does not count towards your care
cap – the proposed flat rate for this is £230 a week).

Choosing to have home care means that you only pay for what
you need. You will still have the associated living costs, but if you have your
own home with no mortgage, for example, you may be able to spend significantly
less than £230 a week on food and bills. You also might not need 24-hour care,
so you only pay for what you need. You could, for example, hire
a paid carer or contract with a self-employed carer/homecare agency to provide
you with an hour’s care in the morning and another hour in the evening, if that
is all the help that you need. These costs can therefore be much less than
residential care, depending on your level of need.

Your local authority will assess you and your needs, and
from this they will determine whether they can help fund your care package.
This is likely if you have substantial needs. Funds are awarded based on your
local authority’s set rate, so if you want care that costs more than that, you
have to pay the difference. Also, any funding does not include your living
costs, whether you are at home or in a residential setting, so you will need
another way to pay for those.

The cost of care differs by council, so the rate that you
will have to pay can be vastly different to someone else in a similar
situation. London can easily cost up to £1,000 a week.

For example, Bournemouth Council’s weekly average rate for
care is £494.80 for residential care (including £230 weekly living costs, at
2013-2014 prices) and £235.84 for care at home. (Figures via the BBC Care
Calculator, see below for more information).

As you can see, care at home is a less, even when you take
into account the living costs. There are other advantages to home care to
consider: you remain in familiar surroundings, you can keep your independence,
you have your own home comforts, and family and friends can visit whenever they
like.

About the BBC Care Calculator

A new calculator
by the BBC helps you think about your, or a loved one’s, potential care costs,
based on where you live and your personal circumstances. You can input your
postcode to find out the average weekly cost of residential or at-home care in
your local authority, with guidance on the care system in your country. You can
then enter information about assets, savings and weekly income to give an estimation
of the sort of bill you might face before you reach the care cap and a
breakdown of what these costs include. This is based on residential care costs
(with living costs not contributing towards the cap), though an overview of
home care costs is also provided.